Got an idea for how you could improve your neighbourhood? Want to revamp your community centre, spruce up a public garden, or even start a new street market? Now’s your chance to make your mark and transform where you live.
The Mayor of London has teamed up with online crowdfunding platform Spacehive, to enable local communities to propose, fund and deliver the projects that matter to them. Whether that’s creating a community kitchen, brightening up your area with street art, reviving a historic market, or another creative use of an empty space.
Spacehive is a website where people get together to raise funds for projects that make their local area better. The platform allows you to share your project idea to attract pledges not just from your friends, family and neighbours, but from your council, businesses and other funders that want to see your project happen. One of the biggest backers on the platform is the Mayor of London, who through a £1 million fund, is offering pledges of up to £50,000 to support community projects, big and small.
But hurry, you need to have your crowdfunding campaign set up on Spacehive by 1st of May to be in with a chance.
Got an idea? To get started, share some details about your idea using this short form. It doesn’t matter whether your project is well-formed or just an idea in the back of your mind – sharing your idea means Spacehive can help you get ready by the 1st May deadline.
Once you’ve created your project on Spacehive, you can then share the news of your project with your neighbours on Nextdoor to get their feedback and support. Post a message in your neighbourhood, linking to your new project page, and encourage your neighbours to get involved. Whether you’re looking for neighbours to pledge a donation or volunteer their time, Nextdoor is the perfect place to get your local area on board.
Need inspiration? Why not use Nextdoor to ask your neighbours what project they would like in their community or even create a poll with three or four of your ideas and get your neighbours to vote for their favourite.
You can also check out previous projects to get a flavour for what other communities have crowdfunded for. The Mayor has pledged over £1.8m to 101 successful crowdfunding campaigns across the capital, run by people just like you. More than 14,000 backers have come together to raise an extra £2.2m in pledges towards these projects. See how a juice academy in Brent is supporting young people to grow their own fruit and veg to sell as delicious smoothies, and how a community in Tottenham transformed a disused bowling green into a cafe for everyone to enjoy.
There are so many ways our neighbours can help us, that’s why Nextdoor and Spacehive have teamed up to help you connect and engage with your neighbours so you can transform your local area together. Sign up to Nextdoor today.
